Success mantra for failure

JYOTI NISHA / TNN / Dec 19, 2008, 00:24 IST

Text Size

Small
Medium
Large

Is there anything as failure? Or it’s just in the mind... we let the bigwigs from various fields do the talking.

If it wasn��t a failure, I wouldn��t have tried the next time. If I didn��t fail again, I wouldn��t have challenged time. It gave strength to my weakness and assured my belief, ��there lies success in my hands, in my dreams.��
So, success and failure are sides of the same coin. It��s just how you look at it. And though failure could mean different to different people, we asked bigwigs from different fields on their understanding of the term and if there is anything like the term failure...
Motivational expert, an educator and a renowned and sought-after speaker, Shiv Khera opines, ��Failing many times is commonly considered as failure. But then success comes only when you overcome failures.�� Citing his own example he continues: ��I have done various jobs like washing cars and even something like selling life-insurance policies, where you suffer so much rejection. I had to listen to 10 NOs before I got a ��yes��. My boss eventually fired me but I didn��t take the failure to heart just because I failed at selling a product.��
Rightly said, but how does one handle such rejection in a society that��s lives by certain expectations? And Deepak Tijori, actor and director says: ��Yes, indeed it's the people around you who love to label or put you under a certain bracket. But failing and learning is the way to one��s growth. That��s why when I got tired of playing a hero's best friend in every film, I decided to explore other avenues like direction. That��s no failure for me.��

But isn��t losing and failing got more to do with one��s own mindset? Or how do we explain those many celebrities, filmstars or even the younger lot breaking down midway? To that Khera adds, ��Success is very internal and though these celebrities have everything superficially �� right from name, fame, money etc, they lag the sense of inner fulfilment. A classic example is popular American singer, Elvis Presley who committed suicide.��

Veteran filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt who was once into quite an intimate relationship with the diva Parveen Babi, who suffered from schizophrenia, shares something similar. So was it her failure to reconcile with a sane life, we ask Mahesh, who says: ��She was the most beautiful and generous lady I��ve met. She embraced me when I was a nobody. She suffered from mood swings, an extremely emotional drowning period, and within that state as well the world wanted her to be in control of her life. But she failed because she had stop pretending that she was fine, while a diva is always expected to run all the way even though if she is drop dead tired. Failure is when you give up trying and that��s what happened with Parvin.�� However, in his opinion, though he agrees that ��failures belittle you, demean you and devastate your self-esteem, it also adds fuel to your potential and has the ability to make you soar to new heights of success. So, while this doesn��t hold true in Parvin��s case, it's with defeat that you learn to work harder. Even Lord Krishna has said in the Geeta, ��Bring me failure.�� One must never undermine the value of failure. It's the most potent driving force for one's success.��
Taking a more optimistic stand is RK Mittal, social welfare commissioner: ��Failure is part of ones' evolution. We shouldn't become slave of result.��
Padma Shri KP Saxena, popular author shares, ��I think a lot also depends on the norms and the principles one follows. It��s only one��s positive perspective that takes one a long way and defines one��s life.��
Failure is a boon in disguise which open avenues to challenge the market of competition, within ourselves and the world around."

End of Article